I was in Vienna for a few days. Naturally I was trying to fit in as much as I could and didn’t make much time to draw. This is a drawing from one moment alone while waiting for diner at the Cafe Schwarzenberg. The Vienna cafes always serve your drink on a metal tray with a napkin.

Yaaay, it’s Christmas and we got a new toaster from my mother. She noticed that we kept the old one working by jamming clothespins into the slot to hold down the lever (kind of a fire hazard). You get a lot of burned toast using this method.

On my final day in Washington D.C. I visited the National Museum of American History. What I found more interesting than the feature exhibitions were the display cases with random objects from American History: medical devices from the 70’s, Betty Davis’ coat from Voyager Now and one of Google’s original handmade servers. The technology stuff in particular show from what humble beginnings our amazing modern devices come from.

The permanent display of the Star Spangled Banner was also very impressive. I had no idea it was so big, originally 30 x 42 feet (now 30 x 34 feet thanks to souvenir takers long ago).

On the down side, the food in the cafeteria was pretty bad, expensive and the service was surly. On the definite upside, one of the display cases had a face jug, one of my favorite drawing subjects.

Face Jug

The remains from my depressingly bad lunch at the museum’s food service.